Playful Learning

May 17, 2013

The first half of our move to Massachusetts went pretty smoothly. Although it was apparently pretty busy, because I managed this one photo, and that appears to be about it. It is a picture of the living room of the new place, before we started filling it with stacks of boxes. As you can see, the floors are very shiny, which tells you that my children do not yet actually live there. But soon.

In the meantime, we have a big weekend coming up back here in Vermont. Dan is graduating from medical school on Sunday, an event worthy of my waxing philosophical at least a little bit. But right at this moment I am typing with one hand while trying to both nurse the baby and eat a sunny side up egg. This is actually pretty tricky business. So thoughts on the medical school journey later, I guess.

By the way, I made you all some printable and pocket-sized lists for summer library going. Fun, yes? You can find them over at Playful Learning.

April 12, 2013

People! Friday is here, and that means one very imporant thing: this week has been nearly survived. Insert loud exhaling noise here.

Between the stuffy noses and the crying because teething is miserable and the househunting from afar and the tax refund check that is maybe lost in the mail? Well. What is that saying about just keeping your thoughts to your very own self unless they are nice ones? Right. But I did feel that I should explain myself if I was going to post a picture of my kid digging wax out of a candle holder with a coffee spoon. Which I found that I had to do because, basically, it was the only photo I took all week long. And really, it is kind of his favorite thing to do. If we are being honest.

But there are other bits of news worth sharing, too. I've been working behind the scenes on a handful of little projects and posts for other people's internet homes, and coincidentally, they all seemed to appear in their finished form around the same time this week. Here they are, in the event that you want to take a peek.

- I am pleased to announce that the first Sparkle Stories ebook
has made its way into the world, and that I have teamed up with the
ever wonderful David and Lisabeth to provide easy, practical (and yes,
fun!) games and crafts to include in their books as they release them. This first book is full of some of our family's favorite Sparkle: a collection of stories from the Junkyard Tales series. You can find the book on Amazon here.

- There is a new post up at Playful Learning today. I think that it will be of particular interest to any of you fellow bird nerds out there because I made you some printable birder's notecards. So go print them already!

- There is an Alphabet Glue giveaway going on over at The Crafty Crow through Saturday evening. You can enter to win copies of the two newest issues of Glue, and there is a 20% discount code there, too- enter "crafty" at checkout through Sunday evening.

- I know that I mentiond it earlier in the week, but the red paper canoes tutorial on The Crafty Crow can be found here.

- And lastly, there are just a couple of days left to purchase the Learning Through Play ebook bundle. The kids' gardening resources that are included are fantastic, and are worth the price of the bundle just on their own. Also, it is about 28 degrees here today, so reading through those ideas on gardening with the small people is basically like getting a really cheap therapy session. Totally recommend it.

April 06, 2013

Some of you might remember the ebook sale organized by Melitsa of Raising Playful Tots and Cathy of NurtureStore last fall. It was incredibly fun to be a small part of the whole affair; I had a chance to meet other writers, and to be a part of a really cool and innovative group of creative teachers, authors and parents. Cathy and Melitsa have now organized an even bigger book bundle for the spring season, and it will be availabe through the blogs of the individual participants beginning this coming Monday morning. The Spring Learning Through Play book bundle will be available April 8th to April 14th only, so you'll definitely want to pop back in next week and download your copy. I'm just having a chance to look through everything that is included myself, and I'm amazed at the amount of great stuff inside. The interwebs are full of awesome folks if you just know where to find them!

Here is what Cathy has to say about the special:

Learning Through Play Spring Book Bundle

This special bundle of books is available for you to buy only between April 8th and April 14th. I’ve read the books (and written one of them!) and I’m so happy to recommend this offer to you. These ladies really know their stuff and the books and resources are packed full of fantastic creative and practical ideas that you can use with your children. There are sixteen different authors joining in, bringing you over $130 worth of resources. And, guess what – you can buy the lot for just $9.99!
Read on to see all the items included in the spring special offer – and start looking forward to getting your copies!

ScienceArts inspires children to explore the world of science through art with open-ended experiments. 141 pages of art experiments amaze & delight children as they discover the magic of crystals, light, constellations, plants and more. All scientific reactions and concepts explained. Value $9.99

The Playful Family encourages and challenges busy parents to slow down and spend quality time together with their children, regardless of their age. With nearly 100 ways to connect, engage and play together this easy-to-read e-book is a must-have resource for any parent interested in becoming more playful and happy while raising children. Value $4.99

Connecting Family through Creative Play is a 30 day e-Workshop designed for families who wish to connect with their children on a daily basis through simple, creative play. These ideas are perfect for parents looking to find a balance between the everyday responsibilities and connecting with your child in meaningful ways that fit into your family’s daily rhythm. You will receive daily messages from us in your inbox with inspirations to play, ideas for connection, and resources to help spark your imagination, including access to a private Facebook community. {Please note this course is running April 29th 2013 to May 28th 2013 only and you must register on the course before May 15th 2013} Value $25

Alphabet Glue is a downloadable e-magazine for families who love books, and aims to help more families to incorporate creativity, imagination and all things literary into their everyday routines. Each issue contains leveled book recommendations organized by theme, bookmaking tutorials, story-building activities, and hands-on projects that complement favorite titles in children's literature or teach basic elements of science. Value $11

The Alphabet Summer Learning Pack is a collection of flexible summer learning ideas organized around an "A to Z" theme. Use these resources to prevent the dreaded "summer slide" and build fun learning routines into your summer plans. Ideas are simple and flexible, so families can pick and choose the activities that work for their particular child and schedule. They provide opportunities to practice key literacy and math skills, and they leave plenty of time for lemonade stands and sand castles. Value $7

Backyard FUN brings you13 Art Lessons and Craftivities to create your own Backyard Fun Camp at home or in your classroom with step-by-step instructions, supply lists, and full color photos. The supplies for these fun and easy projects will come from your own art and craft stash, garage, hardware store, and recycling bin! Value $10

Alphabet Crafts lets you create the alphabet from A-Z with fun crafts that promote more than just letter recognition. Kids will love making their own alphabet and forget that they are learning in the process. With 5 exclusive crafts never published on No Time For Flash Cards. Value $8

The Alphabet Mega Pack includes 12 hands-on games that teach children to recognize the names and sounds of letters - skills that are important for learning how to read. Each activity includes easy to follow parent instructions and helpful photos. The games are addictively fun for kids AND their families! Value $6

Raising a Creative Kid: Simple Strategies for Igniting and Nurturing that Creative Spark by Jillian Riley of A Mom with a Lesson Plan:

Raising a Creative Kid will help you raise a creative thinker by simply setting up a creative environment, using intentional language, and nurturing mistakes. This easy read is full tips and tricks that will help you transform your environment into a creativity growth center. Value $7.99

Fifteen 5-minute reading tricks that cover everything from teaching names to what parents should say during read-alouds, from learning sight words to reading fluently. It’s about rolling out the red carpet for our rockstar readers. Now. Whomever you are, wherever you are, no matter how busy you are. Value $10

Parenting with Positive Guidance: Building Discipline from the Inside Out by Amanda Morgan of Not Just Cute:

Parenting with Positive Guidance gives you the tools for understanding your child’s behavior and effectively teaching and guiding your child toward increased self-control while fostering a healthy parent-child relationship. 100+ pages of information you can start using today! Value $9

Treasure Basket Play lets you learn step by step how to make your own natural sensory baby play activity with a Treasure Basket. Includes case studies and interview with a sensory play expert on using Treasure Baskets. Value $8.95

March 25, 2013

It would seem that I never got around to writing the post that I had intended to today. The sun was shining and the baby declined his regularly scheduled nap, so it seemed to make good sense to abandon our various household responsibilities in favor of hitting the trail. We spent our afternoon trudging through the mud and snow on a favorite local hike, and the housework and the blogging? Not so much. But there is always tomorrow, I suppose.

I did want to stop by just for a moment, however, to mention that I have a post up at Playful Learning today. It's a handy little list of ideas for making birdwatching with kiddos an enjoyable prospect, and I think that some of you all might very well like to have a read through. You can find it here.

Also, I am woefully behind with responding to comments and emails, mostly due to just having been really busy over the last week or so. But believe you me, I appreciate every last sentiment that you send my way, and I will try very hard to get caught up this week. Pinky swear.

November 21, 2012

Good news for those of you looking for distractions to keep you from getting started on the mashed potatoes too early: The Thanksgiving Weekend E-Book Bundle is available now! I had some confusion inititally about when to open this up for purchasing, because as you all know, I am a Permananetly Confused Person due to the care and feeding of small people and the associated lack of sleep. But it looks like it is okay to let you all go ahead and download now! There are e-books and downloadable magazines from thirteen different authors, including everything from hands-on activities, crafts and printables to mindful parenting resources. Very good stuff.

A note about mobile devices: it doesn't appear to work to download the bundle from a phone, so you'll want to have access to a computer when you download. Also, if you would like to send the bundle to someone as a gift, simply purchase as usual, and then forward the email from e-junkie with the download link inside to the recipient of your choice.

The time for the bundle has come and gone friends... But, hey! Don't worry- you can certainly still find the individual books included by visiting the author's sites through the links below.

Here is a little reminder from Cathy and Melitsa, who organized this great collaboration, of what you will find inside:

Thanksgiving Weekend Special Offer

This special bundle of books will be available for you to buy only over the Thanksgiving weekend. You will have from Wednesday, November 21st, 2012 until midnight (GMT) on Monday, November 26th, 2012 to buy this special offer. And really - you'll want to!
These ladies really know their stuff and the books and resources are packed full of fantastic creative (and practical) ideas that you can use with your children. There are thirteen different authors joining in, bringing you over $100 worth of resources. And, guess what - you can buy the lot for just $9.99!
Read on to see all the items included in the Thanksgiving weekend special offer.

The Learning Through Play bundle includes all these e-books and resources:

The Garden Classroom

by Cathy James of NurturestoreThe Garden Classroom brings you fifty-two creative and playful outdoor activities, giving you a whole year’s worth of garden-based projects to enjoy with your children. Value $9.99

Bursting with ideas for playing inside and outside, with activities for moving, talking, cooking, creating, thinking, singing, imagining and constructing, Issue 1 of Play Grow Learn includes 62 pages of inspiration for parents and educators of children from birth to 5 years. Value $4

Raising a Creative Kid: Simple Strategies for Igniting and Nurturing that Creative Spark by Jillian Riley of A Mom with a Lesson Plan

Just what you need to transform your environment into a creativity growth center, Raising a Creative Kid includes creative exercises following each of the sections that makes moving into a creative lifestyle as easy as possible. Value $7.99

Parenting with Positive Guidance: Building Discipline from the Inside Out by Amanda Morgan of Not Just Cute

Everyday Sensory Alphabet Activities is your go to solution for wriggly jiggly children who want to craft and play with alphabet activities that focus on the process along with audio from educators about alphabet learning to set things going in the right direction. Value $9

It's Turkey Time Literacy and Math Printables for Prek-K by Christine Lanyon of Scribble Doodle Draw

November 13, 2012

It isn't so much a question of what we did around here last weekend as it is what we didn't do. Goodness, what a busy couple of days we had. But busy in all the nicest ways, really. We welcomed Dan home from a trip out west, Mariam had her first orchestra concert of the year, we had friends for dinner on Saturday night and stayed up far later than we probably should have.

Our friend Matt came into town from California on Sunday, and though he is here for work-related purposes, we took advantage of the free time that he did have and went for an afternoon walk down to a favorite beach on Shelburne Bay.

We filled our pockets with especially lovely rocks and searched for beach glass by the shore. Annie 2.0 found some kind of crayfish-type fellow. He was long dead, but still in very servicable condition for observation and investigation.

Mariam received some solid instruction on the fine art of rock skipping from Matt, Mark and Annie 2.0. She is already a much better rock skipper than I will ever be. I consider that good news. The skipping of stones, after all, is one of the more satisfying idle-time activities available out there in the wide world.

A couple of other notes today:

:: Mariah lives in an area where the recent storm caused significant damage to many, many communities. She is generously donating all proceeds from Playful Learning e-courses through the end of this coming weekend to the recovery efforts, and you can find out more about how to sign up here.

:: David and Lisabeth have a free Thanksgiving-themed Sparkle Story up on the Sparkle site and are also offering a special Martin and Sylvia sample pack all week long with proceeds going to Heifer International. Heifer is an amazing organization, and we always love Martin and Sylvia around here! Check out the details and find the free story here.

September 14, 2012

One of the things that I find particularly endearing about children is the fact that they are such natural collectors of unexpected and unusual treasures. To those below a certain age, a piece of beach glass or a perfectly round stone is as much a prize as one is apt to find. Okay, I suppose that is also true of some people above a certain age as well. Ahem.

Mariam has always been a collector; of acorns, rocks, feathers and other odd bits of nature. I mentioned in my post for Playful Learning that part of our organization of her new project area was hanging some shadow box-like shelves to house a few of her collections. I've had a handful of questions about the shelves, so I thought I might tell you a bit more about them since I didn't get specific in the original post.

beach glass, driftwood, a handful of tiny shells

The shelves do look a bit like shadowboxes, but really are just deep, cube shaped shelves. I actually got them years ago, probably with an entirely different purpose in mind, and they have just been hanging around the garage, unused since then. I think that they are these. When I wanted somwhere to tuck Mariam's little collections away that was both easy for her to see and safe from the perpetually naughty cat, they seemed like a perfect solution.

a fossilized dinosaur tooth from Utah

The shelves are open to the wall at the back, but I felt like they needed a backing of some kind. I cut pieces of scrapbooking paper to size, and then glued the pieces on to the backs of the shelves to create a colorful background. I suspect it would be quite easy to change the paper out for new, which would be a super simple like magic way to make it look like the shelves themselves were new and different.

The collection shelves aren't quite as clean and pretty now as they were then they first went up a few weeks ago. Indeed, those tiny mineral jars now have a number of companion treasures nestled on all sides of them. Shells found at the lake, more beach glass, a blue jay feather, the shell from a quail egg. And even if this means that things are getting a bit crowded, it still seems fitting. If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then it makes good sense to put your favorite finds where family and friends can behold them too, no? Also recommended: keep a pocket magnifying glass on one of the shelves or somewhere nearby to make for extra easy examination of the collection.

I realized this week that September is already half way over! Seems like a good time to offer a deal on last September's issue of Alphabet Glue. Between now and September 21st, get a free copy of Volume Three (story maps, story buntings, reference books for kids and more) when you download a copy of Volume Six, Seven or Eight. Tell a friend!

June 13, 2012

Do you know one thing that I like very much? When I finally get to let you all in on a secret project that I've been working on behind the scenes, that's what. I am therefore delighted to report that today you can read my very first post as an official and regular contributor to Mariah's awesome website, Playful Learning. I'll be posting over there a couple of times a month, and I'll be sure to let you know when there is something new there that you might like to check out. My first post is a Glue-style tutorial for making origami boxes out of recyled artwork. You can find it here. They are perfect for the stashing and safekeeping of tiny summer treasures and I think that you will like them very much. Make one, make a dozen, and, if you feel so inclined, perhaps you would pin the tutorial on Pinterest or share it via Twitter or Facebook? It's always nice to get a new project started off on just the right foot, if you know what I mean.

In other news, our friends at Sparkle Stories have a free story available in honor of Father's Day. Click here to have a listen.

A bit of fine print

I am a participant in the Amazon affiliate program. When you purchase from Amazon by following my links here on the site, I get a tiny commission. I only link to books that I truly believe you'll enjoy, and I don't accept any payment for my humble and often wacky opinions.